More Articles

The family of a Chillicothe woman killed in a car crash last week hopes to find the stolen
bicycle that they say changed her fate.

Anna Rooney, 36, had recently developed a passion for mountain-bike racing. When someone used
bolt cutters to steal two of Rooney’s bikes outside the German Village Guest House on Jaeger Street
on June 30, she scrambled to borrow a bike for an upcoming race, said her brother, Walt Rooney, 42,
of Seattle.

She had just picked up that bike from a friend in southern Ross County around 9:20 p.m. Thursday
and was returning home along Rt. 50 when her Lincoln Navigator was struck by a Chevrolet Suburban
that crossed into her lane, said Sgt. James Lott of the Chillicothe post of the State Highway
Patrol.

Rooney and the driver of the Suburban, Shira Seymour, 36, of Bainbridge, were taken to Adena
Medical Center in Chillicothe before being transferred to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical
Center, Lott said. Rooney died early Friday.

If her bikes hadn’t been stolen, she wouldn’t have been on the road that night, Walt Rooney
said. “Unfortunately, she just had to get that bike.”

One of Rooney’s stolen bikes was recovered earlier on Thursday at a central Ohio pawnshop, but
the bike she used for races is still missing.

Walt Rooney said his family wants to find his sister’s bike to preserve her memory. “That bike
was her new passion,” he said. “It just meant a lot to her and, therefore, it meant a lot to
us."